Thursday, June 21, 2007

Where will Bertuzzi go?

With the recent hiring of Mike Keenan, the Calgary Flames rumor mill started swirling with the names of some of Mike Keenan's favorite players. Flames fans will be happy to know that Keenan will not be allowed to make trades himself. Otherwise Mark Messier would probably retire his post from Lays Potato Chips and make his way over to Cow-Town.

Mike Keenan's love affair with Bertuzzi creates a more plausible trade idea. On two occasions Mike Keenan has made trades for bertuzzi.

1) With the Vancouver Canucks he traded away Trevor Linden (the most beloved player in their franchise history) for Todd Bertuzzi and Bryan McCabe. Many teams around the league have Mike Milbury to thank for trades such as this one.

2) Then in Florida, in a very Millburian fashion, he made the blockbuster trade of Luongo for Bertuzzi.

Now that Bertuzzi is a UFA, many are wondering where he will end up. Because of injuries and inconsistent play, most speculate that Bertuzzi will be making less than 2 million. We already know that Keenan loves Bertuzzi. Will he be asking Darryl Sutter to bring the Tuzz to Calgary?

It would be hard to imagine Bert playing for the Flames. There is no city in the NHL that has booed Bertuzzi more than Calgary. But Flames fans would be quick to forgive Bertuzzi if he began to show flashes of his pre-Steve Moore self.

Regardless, the Bertuzzi situation will be a good early signal of how much control Keenan has within the organization. If the Flames do enter into talks with Bertuzzi on July 1st, it will likely be on the recomendation of Mike Keenan.